Storytellers lap up Udaipur-born author's book
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19 Sep, 16 12:38
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Jaipur: For author Arefa Tehsin, who grew up in the jungles of southern Rajasthan, it is an honour that stories from her book 'The Elephant Bird' are read out in more than 3,000 storytelling sessions across the country through this week.
On Thursday, the session will be held at the Pranab Mukherjee Public Library in President's Estate at 4.45pm, said Manisha Chaudhry, head of content development, Pratham Books. Professional storyteller Rituparna Ghosh will conduct the session at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Pratham Books, established in 2004 with the mission to see a book in every child's hand, runs a campaign every year on International Literacy Day (September 10) called 'One Day, One Story', giving storytellers an opportunity to connect with children in their neighbourhood and share the beauty of storytelling in their native language. This year, Tehsin's book was selected for the campaign.
"The book is about a magical bird and a brave and curious child. It is based in a village called Adhaniya, inspired by a village of the same name in southern Rajasthan. I heard about it from my naturalist father Dr Raza H Tehsin," said Tehsin on telephone from Sri Lanka where she's working on a novel series.
More than 3,000 storytellers are registered to conduct around 3,200 storytelling sessions as part of the campaign. In Rajasthan, sessions have been held in Jaipur, Nal, Jaisalmer, Bichhiwada (Dungarpur), Ajmer, Bhilwara and in many villages.
"Our aim is to have a cohort of voluntters whose interest can be sparked through these sessions, enabling them to become long-term champions of reading," said Maya Hemant Krishna, community and outreach manager, Pratham Books. Pratham works with underprivileged children.
Pratham Books reaches around 50 million children and the 'One Story, One Day' campaign is in Limca Book of Records for hosting the largest number of volunteerdriven reading sessions on a single day.
"This annual celebration of reading has transformed into a reading movement that connects volunteers to the children who have less or no access to books or storytelling," Krishna said.
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